Blessed Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church
500 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, Singapore 678106
The slothful man roasts not that which he took in hunting. Roast occurs only here in the Hebrew. This has led some to suggest other meanings hike start or set out. Aramaic and Arabic roots suggest scorch. Of the three Hebrew young men, in the fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar, it was observed, there was not an hair of their head singed (Dan. 3:27). Jewish tradition has roast, and so our KJV.
At the funeral of David Livingstone, a man who appeared to be a derelict of humanity was seen to be weeping bitterly. When someone asked if he was a near relative of the great missionary. “No,” he replied, “but we were in the same class at school and worked at the same loom in the mill in Blantyre. Only I took the wrong road, and have become a useless drunkard.”
2. The Supreme Way is the Trusted Way. In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death (v.28). There are three Hebrew words in this verse each meaning way or path. We could say, “In the way of righteousness is life, and the route of that road is not death!” It does not, like the path of the wicked, lead astray. Jesus said to his disciples in those dark hours before Calvary: If it were not so I would have told you. David Livingstone, in a time of severe testing, claimed that verse as a promise made by Jesus, and then added in his diary: “This is the word of a gentleman of the most strict and sacred honour; and that’s an end of it.” The Way of the righteous may be rough at times, but it is always the right way, the supreme way, the well-secured way for God’s pilgrims.
Life is a journey, a pilgrimage, if you will. We are all travelling along some path or other. What path are you travelling on? At the end will it mean downfall or deliverance? These two Proverbs contrast the life and thinking of the righteous and the wicked. There are just two paths, the Way of the Righteous, and the Way of the Wicked. Everyone is travelling one or other of these. One sometimes hears the cry: “Is there really a true path in this life? If so, how can I be sure I’m on it?” If that’s your cry, please read on.
Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop, but a good word maketh it glad. This is the positive side of our proverb.
Heaviness is a rare word in Hebrew, occurring six times as a verb, and three times as a noun. It is more than an anxious heart as one translation has it. There is a deeper note here. It is one of fear, even terror. And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing (Jos. 22:24). It may come from an unjust censure, or evil tidings. “The rendering in this verse in the AV is to be retained” (Perowne).
This proverb furnishes a contrast between Decisiveness and Deceitfulness, between Mastery and Misery. The hand of the diligent shall bear rule; but the slothful shall be under tribute. Slothful also means knavery or deceit (Ps. 101:7, 120:2, Micah 6:12) as well as laziness. It always deceives the slothful in the end (Ps. 78:57). Under tribute is used only here in Proverbs. It is a collective noun for a group of forced labourers or a labour-gang, and leads to slavery. “A lazy spirit is always a loosing spirit” (Brooks). Its message is crystal clear: the lazy are the losers. “Sloth shortens life and lengthens sin”!
The hand of the diligent shall bear rule (v.24a). Diligent means sharp, strong and active. In the Greek Bible (LXX) it is eklekton, choice or chosen out. Joel 4:14 renders it decision. The Day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. It is the valley of strict decision, the day of destiny. In Amos the feminine plural form is rendered, They have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron (1:3). Both passages are dealing with God’s judgment on His people. In Job 14:5, where it is masculine plural, as here, it refers to the days of Job as determined or fixed in number. The diligent person is sharp, strong, active, decisive, and, therefore, comes to be chosen, by both man and God.
There is only one way to be happy, and that is to so live as to make happiness possible. “Happiness is neither within us only, nor without us; it is the union of ourselves with God” (Pascal). That, we suggest, is a summary of these proverbs.
The slanderer and backbiter, the railer and flatterer, the unrighteous witness and the babbler, have all something in common. They kill with the tongue!